


an act of kindness

by akumatised (emeraldine)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, in a way? - Freeform, tbh this is primarily hurt/comfort like that's all it is, umbrella scene 2.0
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-17 01:37:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8125483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldine/pseuds/akumatised
Summary: Marinette's always been a stuttering mess around Adrien, wanting to be closer to him but never having the courage to talk to him. But when he shows up to school one day more dejected and upset than she's ever seen him, she vows to put aside her fear and show him how loved and cared for he is. Cue Umbrella Scene: The Sequel.





	

**Author's Note:**

> me: *writes a oneshot for every song on bastille's new album*
> 
> but yall! beth's posting a new story? mere days after posting the last one? WHAAAAAT????  
> yes, it's true! inspiration struck, and things happened! yaaaay!!
> 
> this isn't super duper romantic (which was kind of the case for my last story too, interestingly enough), but I hope the lack of tooth-rotting fluff doesn't put anyone off. I've been super into writing short things heavily based on character development, so I guess this is kind of one of those? besides, who doesn't want to see lil adrien getting some "you is kind, you is smart, you is important" treatment and being reminded of his worth?

It was a truth universally acknowledged that Marinette had been a blushing, stammering mess in front of Adrien Agreste from the moment he’d shielded her from rain, all those months ago. Most of the school could verify it; in fact, she was pretty sure Adrien himself, in all his oblivion, could link her awkward behaviour to the most embarrassing crush in the history of mankind. She tried, honestly, she did, to look past the pedestal of perfection she herself had created for him and see him as a normal person. Logically, of course, she knew; receiving the praise she had as Ladybug had helped to cement the fact that he was real and normal and human in her brain, but it was fair to say it got a little.. dislodged, sometimes.

Okay, sometimes may have been an understatement.

But she was trying! When he got grumpy, or made puns her leather-clad partner would’ve approved of, or even, rarely and shockingly, suffered the perils of foot-in-mouth disease and said stupid things without thinking, Marinette tucked these moments away as a reminder that he was human, just like her, and she could, in fact, treat him as such. Some days, she could tell, he needed that.

Today was one of these days.

He walked in, so disheveled and distressed one would've noticed even if they didn't have Marinette’s Agreste Radar, with puffy eyes and a red nose that could probably have been seen from the back of the classroom. It was so rare and obvious that even Chloe's voice had softened to a compassionate, quiet tone when she'd seen him, asking him if he were okay in the gentlest fashion anyone had ever seen from her. It seemed to surprise him too, but regardless, he clearly didn't want her latching onto him, and shrugged out of her embrace with only a little less tact than usual. She made some comment about retail therapy after school before flouncing off to her seat, and he slowly, tiredly, approached his. It often caught Marinette by surprise to see Chloe extending genuine kindness towards the few people she did consider friends. She did so only occasionally, of course, in such a way that she was still the focus, but it was interesting and heartwarming, nonetheless, to know that her care for the few people she liked was genuine. Marinette idly wondered how aware Adrien was of how much Chloe (and all the rest of his classmates, as a matter of fact) genuinely cared for him, but was torn away from that thought by Alya’s enthusiastic (and, judging by Adrien’s expression, too loud) greeting.

She greeted her in return, and summoned all her courage to offer Adrien a soft greeting as well. The smile she received in return- one she referred to as his ‘model smile’, all mouth and no genuine happiness, wasn’t all that surprising, but she’d be lying if she said it didn’t dampen her spirits a little.

“Woah, Adrien, you look terrible! Wh-”

“Alya, I love you, but shut up, please”, Marinette said quietly, shushing her friend with a roll of her eyes. “Pretty sure he doesn’t need to be reminded of whatever’s bothering him.”

Alya cringed. “Whoops. Sorry Adrien.”

He offered her a quiet “it’s alright” in return, and Nino shot Marinette a grateful smile beside him. Her voice had been low, not intending to draw attention to herself or her words, but Nino had caught them, and the thanks he gave her for looking out for their friend reminded her, once again, of the thought pattern she’d been on earlier. She didn’t know why Adrien was upset, but she had a feeling that he seriously underestimated his own worth and importance. In that moment, she decided that needed to change. She was still, unsurprisingly, struggling with talking to him, but her awkward fears didn’t matter. Her own worry that he might think of her as weird or make a connection to her feelings if she tried to show him kindness were totally invalid when he needed comforting and she was in a position to offer it. So, mentally squaring her shoulders, she made the decision to try and talk to him at lunch. Unfortunately, for now, all she could do was wait.

* * *

 The rain chilled him to the bone as it fell on the uncovered rooftop, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. He’d hurried out of the classroom the second the lunch bell rang, craving some time away from the pitying looks of his classmates, and when he’d found himself at the top level of the school, he didn’t question it or change his mind, simply settling on the edge, finally feeling free in his solitude to let everything he’d been holding in take over. He wasn’t sure at first which of the droplets on his cheeks were from the rain or from his own tears, but after a few minutes, the rain seemed to suddenly stop. But it hadn’t actually stopped, because he could still hear it -hitting an umbrella?

“H-hey, Adrien”,  a soft voice he immediately registered as Marinette’s said from above. He turned to look up at her as she spoke, fairly sure his eyes and face were even redder than they had been when he last saw her, but not caring too much about that fact. Marinette was kind; the sight of him crying wouldn’t deter her.  It didn’t escape her notice, though.

“I just- well I can leave you if you want to be alone, but the rain- I didn’t want you to get soaked and catch a cold and _oh, Adrien, have you been crying?_ ”

He sniffled as she sank down to sit beside him, the usual nervousness that often had her stammering in his presence completely replaced with a concern that triggered a sharp twinge in his chest. She fumbled around in her purse, quickly producing a few tissues, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He sighed as she rubbed soothing circles on his back, and it surprised him somewhat that even though he’d fled the classroom to be alone, he was vastly preferring her company to the solitude he’d had before.

“Do.. do you want to talk about it?”

He sniffled again, an involuntary action that somewhat bothered him (he didn’t want to be a complete wreck around somewhat that seemed to be totally intimidated by him usually), and sighed. “Not.. just yet, I don’t think.”

She smiled, a soft, kind smile that triggered that thing in his chest again. “That’s fine.”

After a few moments of silence, in which the pair watched the torrential rain beat down on surrounding buildings, she spoke again. “This reminds me of when we met.”

He breathed out a quiet chuckle, smiling along with her. “Yeah, same. I’m still sorry about the gum incident, by the way.”

She laughed. “That wasn’t even your fault!”

“Yeah, but still”, he laughed with her. They settled into another brief silence, but Marinette looked thoughtful, as though she was considering her next words.

“Can I be brutally honest with you for a second?”

He turned, intrigued and slightly worried. “Sure..”

“I kind of wanted to not like you.”

He frowned immediately, and she laughed, hurrying to explain.

“It’s ridiculous, I know, and super judgemental of me. But Chloe’s never been anything but horrible to me, and I figured anyone who associated with her was the same. I guess.. It was easier to assume someone who’d had the kind of life you did would be spoilt and stuck up, rather than to come at things with an open mind and admit to misjudging you. But that’s exactly what I did. I knew nothing about you! Couldn’t possibly have guessed you were dealing with your own stuff, just as everyone else is, or that, despite both the hardships you’ve had _and_ the privilege you’ve grown up with, you’d be one of the kindest, most selfless people I know. So when you made the effort to make things right with me, not to mention you gave me this umbrella, which you totally didn’t have to do, well..” She trailed off, ducking her head as a faint flush spread over her cheeks. “I knew then how totally wrong I was about you, and I knew there was no conceivable way I could ever dislike you. And now that I do know more about you, and I know that everything you’ve been brought up in could easily have shaped you into an awful person had you let it, but you didn’t; well, it’s a privilege to be your friend.”

Adrien exhaled, shocked. “Wow. Gosh, Marinette, you’re gonna make me cry again!”

“Oh, I hope not!” she laughed. “Anyway, I don’t know what you’re going through right now, but I had a suspicion it might have to do with family…”

His small nod and grimace confirmed her suspicions.

“I guess I’ve said everything I have because I want you to know that you have family, here. Me, Nino, Alya, Chloe, though she has a weird way of saying it.. The whole class loves you, and I hope.. I hope when it feels like you’re not loved, or not important, or there’s no one who cares about you, that you think of all of us.” She smiled again, and this time, his stomach practically did backflips. It was a universally known fact that Marinette was kind, of course, but being on the receiving end of such unashamed compassion felt better than he could’ve ever anticipated it would. Adrien had never imagined that a person could feel like peace and safety and security and home, (well, apart from Ladybug, anyway) but he couldn’t deny that that was how it felt being here with her, under the shelter of his umbrella. He felt as though he was getting a taste of what her home life must be like, but even more so, what life at school could be like if he let his friends in when he was upset.

“Marinette, you’re… wow. You’re amazing, you know that? You could give Ladybug a run for her money!”

Marinette laughed, blushing at the comparison as she waved the compliment away. “Honestly, I think it was what all of us wanted to say; I just did the talking.”

“But don’t you see? That’s what makes it all the more admirable! It wasn’t Nino, who knows he’s my best friend and wouldn’t have to worry about whether or not I’d open up to him; and it wasn’t Alya, who’s the kind of person that would comfort someone if she felt compelled to regardless of how they’d take it. It was you, who I don’t know all that well- but would love to get to know some more, by the way- who’s always seemed a little shy around me, which I could never figure out the reason for..”

The blush returned, and she briefly avoided his gaze, until her expression turned cheeky. “What can I say? I was blinded by your beauty; I’m sure it happens all the time.” The pair laughed.

“Anyway, the fact that you did this… believe me, I won’t forget it. Thank you Marinette.”

She smiled, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Anytime, Adrien. Now, what do you say we go run to the bakery to see if we can grab something before lunch ends?”

“Lead the way, Nette!”

Marinette had stood by this point, and turned to face him, an eyebrow raised. “Nette?”

Adrien shrugged, rising as well. “Well, everyone else calls you Mari, but I wanted my own nickname. So, Nette.”

She laughed, shaking out and closing his umbrella. “Alright, sure. I like it. Oh, you can finally have this back, by the way!”

He smiled, pushing the offered umbrella back to Marinette. “You keep it. It can be your reminder of me; like the lucky charm you gave me.”

Marinette smiled. “Sure. Can I.. personalise it, though? Plain black just doesn’t really work for me.”

Adrien laughed. “Of course. It’s yours now; feel free to make it as beautiful as you like.”

  
The next day, Adrien and Marinette ascended the steps of Francois Dupont together, Marinette carrying a certain black umbrella that now sported a single light green stripe all the way around and a few small, matching details, and Adrien holding his phone up to show her his new wallpaper: one of the class photos that had been taken in the park earlier that year, showcasing all the people he cared about by his side. It filled him with joy every time he looked at his phone and saw himself surrounded by friends he knew would have his back, and well, if looking at his phone always gave him another glimpse at the cute, wonderful girl that had reminded him of his worth to begin with, well, who could complain?

**Author's Note:**

> Adrien: "you can keep my umbrella, to remind you of me"  
> Marinette: "......babe, I have a billion posters of you in my room and a brain that reminds me of you just fine; I don't need the help of an umbrella. but, it's something you've touched and used and it's our thing, so there ain't no way I'm gonna refuse that offer."
> 
>    
> WOOHOO HOPE YA LIKED! also YIKES it's really short but I hope it's okay anyway! aaaaaand as always, feel free to visit my tumblr if you want to at scmethingmagnficent.tumblr.com!


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